Send them to foreign safe homes

It is crystal clear we are incapable of taking care of the young men of the St Michael’s Home for Boys. And while we begin the traditional finger-pointing exercise, the boys will continue to suffer in ways we may never even know.

So can someone with some courage and authority please order the home closed temporarily! This should stop everyone dead in their tracks.

Then work with the Canada High Commission and US Embassy to have the boys placed in homes abroad within the next two weeks in groups of six to ten, specialising in “troubled teens”. They need nurturing, counselling and testing in the next six months and if we have to be honest, can we say we are even capable of doing that transparently and efficiently right now?

This plan leaves everyone six months to conclude whatever investigations they are doing, come up with a new plan on how to move forward, and will give everyone some credible reports from trained professionals dealing with troubled youth as to the “real” situation with these boys.

And if we cannot get our act together in six months, Madam Prime Minister, I kindly ask you to approve up to 12 months of funding for these boys to remain abroad so they start their healing and get a toolkit of basic life skills we have been unable to provide them as an entire country.